A Small Place

Prompt: Why do tourists view their vacation destination differently than those that actually live there?
(A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid)

     When visiting a different place on vacation, people tend to see beautiful parts of that piece of land. Referring to A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid, she states on page 4, "You can stay in this place where the sun always shines and where the climate is ridiculously hot and dry for the four to ten days you are going to be staying there." This makes the vacation spot seem like a dreamland. However, people fail to realize that although they are experiencing the top quality aspects of this place, there are those that are suffering in poorer parts of this location.

     I believe that tourists tend to ignore the fact that others are struggling because they do not encounter such people. This is because the vacationers stay at places like resorts, which supply them with goods and necessities to accommodate the traveler's stay. Another reason for this blindness is that many tourists only see the nice parts of the destination. This gives off the assumption that every other place around there is similar because they are part of the same land. Based on the way that hotels and guides create this pleasant experience, those traveling are given a false perception of what is actually occurring. Therefore they are too focused on all of the positive things that are presented to them to notice that other people do not have essential resources like clean water, which they need to survive.